Princess Excursions

Is anyone purchasing Princess excursions before the cruise since the payment policy has changed? We are sailing in April and it appears all excursions are pretty much open.

We buy an occasional Princess excursion. We have enough OBC to cover them, so we are not putting out any cash

is anyone purchasing princess excursions before the cruise since the payment policy has changed? We are sailing in april and it appears all excursions are pretty much open.

yes

On my Alaska doubleheader in May there are some excursions in almost every port down to only between 3 and 6 remaining seats. So somebody is, whether it is Princess newbies who are used to pre-paying excursions as long required on most other lines or those who have some spendable OBC. I may book one on each leg once I get around to sending in for my shareholder OBC; unfortunately it appears the Anniversary Sale OBC can only be spent once onboard.

I always wait so I can use my OBC to pay.

Tony

Is anyone purchasing Princess excursions before the cruise since the payment policy has changed? We are sailing in April and it appears all excursions are pretty much open.

What do you mean that "the payment policy has changed"?

What was it?

What is it now?

Thank you.

Is anyone purchasing Princess excursions before the cruise since the payment policy has changed? We are sailing in April and it appears all excursions are pretty much open.

We have lots of OBC for our April TA, so we have booked a couple of Princess shore excursions and used our OBC to pay for them.

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What do you mean that "the payment policy has changed"?

 

What was it?

 

What is it now?

 

 

 

Thank you.

You used to be able to reserve your shore excursions ahead of time but pay later onboard.

Now if you pre-reserve you have to either pay by credit card or by OBC.

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You used to be able to reserve your shore excursions ahead of time but pay later onboard.

Now if you pre-reserve you have to either pay by credit card or by OBC.

 

 

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Oh, thank you very much for the prompt reply. My cc would have burped loudly, then, if I reserved all my shore excursions and they were paid with the cc!

Nope! I many times make my mind up on the ship after I get a feel for what I want to do. I used to reserve and cancel as soon as I made my mind up prior to the cruise. Doesn’t work that way now so not really using much anymore.

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Is anyone purchasing Princess excursions before the cruise since the payment policy has changed? We are sailing in April and it appears all excursions are pretty much open.

How can you tell that excursions are not getting booked?

Only if an excursion shows less than 20 places available can you be sure how many places are really available. If it shows 20, the number still available can be much higher than 20 as 20 is the max they show even if over a hundred spots still remain. Likewise, if you see 20 it could mean over 100 reservations have been made and at least 20 remain.

Is anyone purchasing Princess excursions before the cruise since the payment policy has changed? We are sailing in April and it appears all excursions are pretty much open.

Where and how long is your cruise?

Is anyone purchasing Princess excursions before the cruise since the payment policy has changed? We are sailing in April and it appears all excursions are pretty much open.

Yes.

To reserve our space for excursions before they sell out.

We usually have enough OBC that covers most of our excursions

Good luck.

I actually for the first time ever prepaid for my upcoming Alaskan trip. Only because there was one spot left on a tour I really wanted to do. I was able to use part of my OBC. However I know I have more OBC from my travel agent which never appears on my shipboard account until I'm actually on the ship. How I look at it is my OBC for my travel agent is refundable so at least I'll eventually get that money back. Otherwise if can wait to book your excursions when you're on board the ship then I would recommend waiting.

I don't get OBC. I have booked and paid for all my excursions on my upcoming cruise. I think this prepaying has come about because folk used to reserve excursions beforehand and then cancel when on board. The way it is now they can only get a refund to their CC. I dislike having to pay so far in advance but I have never reserved an excursion that I didn't want to go on.

I really dislike this new policy.

We will be taking a 48 day cruise from Florida to Los Angeles in 2019. If I were to reserve an excursion in every port with Princess (of course that won't happen) I would have to pay over $3500 up front in advance. And since I don't like to carry a balance on my credit card that is a real problem. It turns out we have several private tours and some ports we are on our own. But even with that, we still need $1800 in advance.

On Princess excursions I like to RSVP as soon as possible to lock in the rate in case the price goes up. With the new policy this tactic becomes a bit more difficult if I don't want to carry a balance on my credit card.

The good news is that I cancelled a booked excursion a Alaska cruise and I got my money back within a couple of days. So that is good,.

Personally, I've seen both models (pay with purchase with AIDA and Royal, pay on board with TUI) and don't mind either way. We only book what we want to do, so it doesn't matter to me if I pay now or later.

Personally, I l like having the excursions already paid for before the cruise. We had OBC that covered most of our excursions, so not much went on my CC. I pay my CC in full each month anyway. It will be nice not to have a balance from our excursions on our bill at the end of the cruise. We are also getting free gratuities on our upcoming Alaska cruise, so there won't be a gratuity balance either.

We did at Cabo, but only because it was a Tender and the fastest way off the ship was with an excursion. Ours sold out, but we had the option to still cancel if we wished once on the ship. Not sure what we will do for the next cruise though. :)

OP........I was thinking the same way you are, less excursions will be wait listed or sold out prior to boarding, but that has not been the case on my last 2 cruises that excursions had to be pre-paid, many have been sold out prior to arriving on the ship.

However, In Nov. we cruised with a group and everyone was able to get the excursions they wanted, which included ones showing sold out...Just like before they leave some spaces for those wanting to book on the ship.

Advantage booking early ..avoid price increases.....

I booked one excursion for the two of us in advance for our December cruise. We had enough OBC to cover the cost. We did not book any excursions for our cruise last month. (We stayed on the ship instead of getting off in St. Thomas and St. Maarten.)

We booked 2 today for Alaska using my on-board credit . No problem on the first but had to call on the second since my wife was short and I had extra $. The agent took care of the second with no issue. I wish they did not give credit by person instead of cabin like other cruise lines !

I don't get OBC. I have booked and paid for all my excursions on my upcoming cruise. I think this prepaying has come about because folk used to reserve excursions beforehand and then cancel when on board. The way it is now they can only get a refund to their CC. I dislike having to pay so far in advance but I have never reserved an excursion that I didn't want to go on.

Princess was unique among the major cruise lines in allowing excursions to be booked in advance and then paid for on the cruise.

In their desire to make Princess less unique, they have adopted the procedures of other cruise lines including requiring immediate payment for advance excursion bookings.

So now, in order to get a spot on popular tours, you need to pay for the excursions up to six months before you need to make final payment for the cruise itself.

Personally, I l like having the excursions already paid for before the cruise.

That has always been an option for people that want it. For years it could be accomplished by purchasing OBC that would cover the cost of the excursions. Then a couple of years ago Princess add the option of paying directly for the excursion if you wish at the time you reserved an excursion.

Now such payment is mandatory, not optional.

Almost all the cruise lines have you pay for excursions when you book them, princess is the first one to take OBC for the excursions booked online. I like it.